Very interesting discussion.

I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs of welfare and its rules, but I like “looking stuff up” that either support or contradict my beliefs about various issues or that hopefully advance the discussion.

Out of curiosity (and maybe to further the discussion), I did a Google search for “two parent families disqualified from welfare.”

The first result took me to Wiki’s page on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which offers this:

AFDC caseloads increased dramatically from the 1930s to the 1960s as restrictions on the availability of cash support to poor families (especially single-parent, female-headed households) were reduced.[3] Under the Social Security Act of 1935, federal funds only covered part of relief costs, providing an incentive for localities to make welfare difficult to obtain.[3] More permissive Northern laws were tested during the Great Migration between 1940 and 1970 in which millions of people migrated from the agricultural South to the more industrial North.[3] Additionally, all able-bodied adults without children as well as two-parent families were originally disqualified from obtaining AFDC funds. Court rulings during the Civil Rights Movement struck down many of these regulations, creating new categories of people eligible for relief. Community organizations, such as the National Welfare Rights Organization, also distributed informational packets informing citizens of their ability to receive government assistance.[3] Between 1936 and 1969, the number of families receiving support increased from 162,000 to 1,875,000.[4] After 1970, however, federal funding for the program lagged behind inflation. Between 1970 and 1994, typical benefits for a family of three fell 47% after adjusting for inflation.[5]

Other features of PRWORA included requiring recipients to work after two years of receiving benefits, a lifetime limit of five years on benefits paid by federal funds, and a reduction of funds available for unmarried parents under 18. (As such parents are likely to be the ones in greatest need of benefits, this seems startlingly callous.)

PRWORA passed in 1996 and was signed by President Clinton. 226 Republicans voted for the bill and 4 were opposed; Democrats were opposed by a margin of 30-165.

Taking into account the recent news stories that the poverty rate in 2010 increased to 15.1%, the highest level in 27 years, it doesn’t appear that the bill’s long-term goal — “to end poverty as we know it” — worked very well.